Thursday, January 25, 2018

Ontario government vows to crack down on sexually abusive teachers

Education Minister Indira Naidoo-Harris, left, is pledging to make changes that
are similar to ones the province has already made for the health professions.

The Ontario government plans to amend its definition of sexual abuse by teachers “as soon as possible,” to make licence revocation mandatory for more offences — an announcement that follows a Star investigation into transfers of abusive teachers from school to school.

“Sexual abuse in our schools is unacceptable. Our schools must be safe, inclusive and welcoming places for our students,” Shazia Vlahos, a spokesperson for Education Minister Indira Naidoo-Harris, wrote to the Star Wednesday evening.

“Our government plans to update the definition of sexual abuse resulting in mandatory revocation in alignment with our government’s recent changes to the Regulated Health Professions Act.”

The changes for health-care professionals came after a Star campaign last year and made revocation of a licence mandatory if an individual engaged in forms of sexual touching or groping of patients. Currently, those are not grounds for automatic revocation of a teacher’s licence in Ontario. (more...)